I got the oportunitty to ask Matt Savage (Lead Singer/Bassist) from Australia based Destrends a few questions.  They are in my humble opinion one of the best things coming from the land down under since Nick Cave.

A few of you got the pleasure the see them live during 

2nd AustralAsian World Turbojugend Days March 5-8th 2020

Who are Destrends? 

Destrends are an Australian based post-punk collective who produce an angular, bass-driven sound and have built a reputation as a distinctly theatrical live outfit.   

How would you describe your sound? 

It’s a bit hard to pin down. Someone once described it as "a confident mix of gloomy post-punk with some real Aussie grit".  I think that is as good of a description as any.  

I first came in contact with you when a friend from Melbourne posted the video to Medication on facebook. I feel in love instantly and I got a big George Miller vibe from the video.  Was that intentional or is that vibe the true australia? 

When we we’re doing a video for Medication, we wanted a location that was as low budget as possible.  Eventually we stumbled across a large group of abandoned buildings. The place was once a booming textile factory in the early to mid 1900’s, but has since been left abandoned and in a derelict mess.  After "letting ourselves in" to have a look around, we found many other creatives creeping around filming, painting, doing shoots etc. It had such a vibe! It felt apocalyptic. It was like a remnant of the past in rustic decay standing still in time. I think as soon as we stepped foot in the factory, we knew a George Miller vibe would suit perfectly and complement the song. So, I guess it was intentional in that sense.  

What musical influences does the band have? 

I think we draw a lot of influence from the new wave and post-punk bands of the late 70’s and early 80’s. I think that comes through fairly clearly in our sound. I guess there’s a bit of Joy Division in there. There are also some great local Melbourne artists from that era too who have been influences. One that we definitely drawn from is Roland S Howard who played in The Birthday Party with Nick Cave. His solo albums later in life were perfection.  It’s great to hear some great post-punk coming out of the UK at the moment. Fontaines DC are doing great things. We’re also enjoying a lot of the local Melbourne stuff at the moment. It feels like there is a resurgence of the post-punk sound happening which is really exciting. 

What’s your favourite mad max movie? 

I think the general consensus here is Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.  I think the series really came into itself with this one. It took the best aspects of the first movie and dialled it up to 100. It’s wild, violent and nightmarish.  It’s theatrical and the costumes are great. I love the landscape. I’m from a small country town in inland Australia that boarders on large vast plains. It reminds of home in a strange way.   

How is it being in a band during Covid-19. When the possibility to perform live is minimal? 

It’s been fairly difficult to be honest.  It has basically put everything on hold. We are based in Melbourne where we have had some of the strictest Covid-19 lockdowns in the world. We had planned to do a national tour for the release of our "Wasteland EP" but this was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions. We have only been able to go 5 kilometres from our own homes and only for essential services. There has been no live music in our city for around 6-7 months and the other states have closed their borders to us. As a band we haven’t been able to meet up in our studio space to rehearse or visit each other at home. In normal times we have a thriving arts and music culture in Melbourne so it has been devastating. We have seen a bit of hope recently that things are beginning to open up so we are going to dive straight in and write/perform as much as possible when we can. 

Will there be a European Tour (sweden) when the corona is over? 

As soon as it’s safe to do so, we’ll be on the next plane out of here! We were actually planning on heading over to Europe this year but 2020 had other plans.  We have been wanting to make it over to Europe for so long. There’s obviously a much bigger audience for the kind of music we are making in Europe so we can’t wait to get there. We’ve also had so much support from the amazing Turbojugend community in Melbourne so we are so keen to play for and get involved in other chapters around Europe. 

In 2017 you released the superb EP Lousy Lover and this year you released wasteland ep. Is there maybe a full album on the way in the making? 

There is a full album in the works as we speak! Earlier in the year we were frantically laying down demos and working towards an album. Covid has been a hurdle for sure but we are not far off getting back into the studio to finish it all off. I think it’s safe to say we’ll have an album next year. 

What’s in the future for the band? 

At this point in time we are just wanting to release the best debut album possible. Then tour as much as we can when it’s permitted.  We are definitely most comfortable playing live. We’ve always been a live band first and foremost and we are missing gigging like crazy.  

Final question. Do you like the Crocodile Dundee movies? 

To be honest I had never watched one in my life until I stumbled across it playing on T.V around a year ago. How Un-Australian of me. I did find it quite funny. Of course, it’s a very overdramatised version of a stereotypical Australian. Although coming from a rural area I must admit I have met some Mick Dundee types in my time.